A Second Chance
by MaybeWeAre
Summary: Leopold welcomes a newly human and injured Tinkerbell into his home, and there's nothing Regina can do about it. The Queen is terrified that Tinkerbell will cost her everything, but maybe they can find their happy endings together. Fairy Queen. Warning: mentions of marital rape and suicide.
1. The Fall

Regina pulled her dressing gown on at the sound of the commotion from downstairs. Normally, she would have just stayed in bed, assuming that she wasn't wanted, but with Leopold and Snow away she figured that she should at least show interest in whatever was happening. She hurried down the hall and halfway down the stairs before her mother's voice sounded in her head. "Slow down, Regina. A lady never rushes." And while Regina imagined that her mother would be too astounded to see the young queen in such a state of almost-undress to notice her pace, she slowed anyway. She descended to the main hall as gracefully as she could in slippers.

Not that it mattered. No one seemed to see the queen as they dealt with whatever emergency was at hand. She felt rather like a ghost, especially given her white nightgown and robe. Everything in her wardrobe here was bridal white, even though the wedding was long over.

Maybe it was better that no one noticed her, since that kept anyone from seeing the look of shock on Regina's face when two guards passed her with a stretcher between them. On it, bleeding from a wound to her head, was the fairy she'd ordered out of her bedroom not two hours ago. Tinkerbell.

Regina followed after the stretcher, her footsteps silenced by her slippers, undetected until the guards reached the infirmary doors. It was a maid, of course, who found her, the young sort of thing who was never noticed herself. "Your Majesty," she said, stunned to see the queen and dropping into a curtsy.

This delayed Regina enough that the infirmary doors closed before she reached them. Not that she knew what she would do if she did. Demand that they put Tink back where they found her? "What's happened?" she asked the maid.

The girl didn't know any more than Regina, but a guard overhead the exchange and approached Regina with a slight bow. "The girl was found unconscious in the garden, my Queen. We are sweeping the grounds to find whoever injured her."

Regina didn't mention that there was, in all likelihood, nobody running around the gardens hitting girls over the head. That, being a fairy, Tinkerbell might have fallen from some height. But she didn't dare suggest that she knew anything about Tink. Every moment they'd spent together had verged on treason.

The guard recommended that Regina return to her room for safety, but she remained downstairs until the royal healer had finished with the fairy. Then she went into the infirmary herself and stood over Tinkerbell for a long time, replaying the past few days as she watched the unconscious fairy. She wasn't sure if she should feel angry or guilty. But she certainly felt tired, so she sat in a chair by the fairy's bed and, after a while, drifted off to sleep.

The talk in the servants' quarters had been primarily about the unknown girl and her unknown attacker, but the little maid added a new strain: that the queen was watching over that girl, that the queen might have a heart after all.

* * *

Tinkerbell had always been told that fairies weren't meant to love. They weren't meant to feel much of anything, really. There was a small range: loyalty, disappointment, hope... Definitely not love.

She'd never been much of one to follow the rules.

But she hadn't realized that there was some truth to what the Blue Fairy had told her about feeling. Humans felt things so keenly. And when Tink awoke in her now-human body, it was overwhelming. The ache from hitting the ground the night before was unlike anything she'd ever felt. The searing pain on her back where her wings had been was worse.

She opened her eyes to take in the strange room, and then she saw Regina. The air slammed out of Tink's lungs like she'd been hit hard, and she sat straight up, ignoring the pain.

She'd certainly known that she cared for the young woman, but not this much. She should be angry, she knew she should be angry, but that emotion didn't come. Everything was both soft and painful as she studied the sleeping queen.

Had Regina been this beautiful the night before? And then the anger came, but not for Regina. For herself. Tink couldn't believe that she'd been so ready to give the young woman away to a stranger.

Blue, for once, had been right. Love was so much more than Tinkerbell had ever dreamed.

She held her breath as Regina jerked from sleep, looking around in surprise as she tried to remember why she was sleeping in an uncomfortable chair and in the wrong room. And then their eyes met, and Tink knew instantly that Regina wasn't sitting by her side out of love or even fondness. Tink was no expert on anger, but she knew that the look in Regina's eyes couldn't be anything else.

She sank back down into the pillow, closing her eyes. She must have dozed off, because when she opened them again Regina was gone. In her place was a round-faced little girl, peering at the former fairy curiously.

"She's awake, Father!" the girl announced cheerily and way too loudly. Tink rubbed at her aching head, willing the girl away.

"Give her space, princess," a kindly male voice said, and Tinkerbell was thankful to see the girl hop out of her chair and disappear from view. The fairy tilted her head to see the source of the voice, a graying man in rich robes and a crown.

Regina's husband, Tink realized, and he looked old enough to be her father.

"I am terribly sorry that your visit to my home has started out so terribly," he said as he sank down into the chair that had Regina and Snow White before him. "King Leopold, at your service."

"Tin…" Tinkerbell caught herself, not wanting to give her identity away in case Blue came looking. "Tindra, Your Highness."

He smiled warmly, and Tink forced herself to smile back. "Well, Lady Tindra, I will see to it that you are well looked after while you recover." He clapped, and a young maid hurried in and curtsied to both of them. "See our guest to a more comfortable room, will you?"

Tink followed the little red-haired maid upstairs and was shown to a room nearly as spacious as Regina's. The girl bathed her and dressed her in clothing much less revealing and sparkly than her old fairy attire. Tink was just sitting down to a small breakfast, finally left alone, when a door at the back of the room opened.

The blonde turned, a slice of apple halfway to her lips, to see Regina. The young queen was still in white, but in a splendid gown set with tiny glimmering jewels, a small tiara set in her long dark hair. She was somehow even more impossibly beautiful than ever before.

Tinkerbell dropped the apple slice into the folds of her skirt, barely breathing.

"You need to go," Regina announced before turning on her heel.


	2. Caged

**Warning: There will be mentions of marital rape (but no actual depictions) throughout the story. Thoughts of suicide as well.**

* * *

Regina should have known. She never got her way. But she couldn't help the way her heart sank when Leopold replied to her request.

"Now, Regina, don't be rude. Lady Tindra is our guest, and she's been injured on the castle grounds. I'm not about to throw her out." Leopold didn't even look up from the edict he was looking over. "And you know better than to come to my chambers uninvited."

Regina turned and stormed out without bothering to thank him for his time or offer him the customary curtsy. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to make her life more hellish than it was, anyway. She made her way down the stairs and out into the garden, stopping by the far gate with its view of the valley below.

It was the farthest she could go. The iron fence that kept her penned in like an animal. She hit her palm against the bars, furious.

She'd been outside these gates with Tinkerbell. Twice. Sitting unnoticed in town, telling the fairy all her secrets, had been the happiest Regina had been in a long time.

And Tink had ruined it, trying to pass Regina off to be some other man's property. And Regina had been stupid enough to run back to her cage.

Every inch of her crackled with fury and magic, and the young queen forced herself to turn from the fence and breathe, calming herself until magic and emotions were in check.

* * *

By the time Tinkerbell found her way out to the gardens, Regina was tending to her beloved apple tree. Tink knew she had to leave, had to give Regina what she wanted, but she couldn't resist the urge to look at the queen one last time. To memorize every inch of her so that she could keep her close.

Memorization didn't seem enough, so she borrowed a pencil and paper and sat some distance from Regina, sketching silently. If the queen saw her there, or heard the frustrated sighs each time Tink found her talents not quite up to the task of capturing Regina's beauty, she gave no sign.

"What are you drawing?" An over-loud voice pierced the silence, and Tink could tell from the way Regina stiffened that she was certainly aware of this new presence. The former fairy turned to see the princess sit down on the bench beside her in a poof of pink taffeta. "Oh my, that's lovely," the girl said, leaning in for a better look at the sketch. "Regina, you must see this. Lady Tindra has drawn the most marvelous picture of you."

Regina didn't even spare a glance in their direction. "Admiring pictures of yourself is terribly vain, Snow," she said with just a hint of bite in her voice.

"Then I will admire it for you." Snow took the paper from Tink's hands without asking. "I only wish I could draw like this. I'm hopeless at drawing people."

Tink wanted more than anything to snatch the picture back. It was _hers_. Snow White got to look at the real thing every day. "I've practiced many years," she told the princess as cordially as she could manage. "If you do the same, I'm sure you'll find that you have more talent than you know."

Snow's eyes lit up, an idea suddenly dawning on her. "Lady Tindra, you must stay and teach me how to draw."

That was enough to pull Regina from her tree and towards the bench. "Snow, I don't believe that's a good idea."

"It's a great idea," Snow replied proudly. "Father asked you to find me a new arts tutor months ago and you still haven't, you know."

"I'm sure Lady Tindra has much better things to do with her time," Regina added, cutting her eyes towards Tinkerbell.

"Yes, that's right," Tink started, but Snow was already on her feet.

"I will go talk to Father right away and he will surely agree that you _must_ teach me," Snow said, running towards the castle with the drawing clutched in her hands.

Regina sank down onto the bench beside Tink, and the former fairy offered her a sympathetic smile. "She really is as bad as you claimed."

"She ruins _everything_," Regina said, not looking in Tink's direction. "You must refuse."

* * *

Refusing didn't seem to be an option. Leopold met Tinkerbell before dinner and gripped her by the elbow as he steered her towards the banquet hall. "My daughter has shown me your work, Lady Tindra. I am so glad that you'll be teaching her."

"Actually…" Tink started.

Leopold stopped short, turning to face Tink and still holding her tightly enough to bruise. "One does not simply walk away from such an opportunity, my Lady," he said. "You will be handsomely paid, live a life at court…" He smiled, and something about the way he did so turned Tink's stomach. "I will even commission a portrait of my daughter, and the King's patronage is something many artists would gladly _die_ for."

It was true, there was no way that Tinkerbell could excuse herself from this. And there was a threat in the king's grasp, in his seemingly harmless words. In the way he steered her to the proper table in the hall and firmly sat her down.

Tink hardly ate, too busy trying to catch Regina's eye and offer some sort of apology. But the queen did not look her way. She didn't look at anyone, it seemed, keeping her eyes on the tablecloth and barely eating.

* * *

Regina always felt sick when she left Leopold's chambers in the evening. She could still feel him on her skin, bare underneath her robe. And it lingered until morning, since Regina was forbidden from washing after. That rule had been put in place after she failed to conceive in their first year of marriage. The longer it took, more restrictions were piled on her.

At least now that Leopold had mostly lost interest in her, his frequent travels meant fewer visits to his bed. But on nights like tonight he made up for lost time, keeping her for hours, taking her as many times as he could manage before exhausting himself.

She slipped back into her room, closing the door and pausing to rest against it. She could feel where bruises would likely crop up on her hips and the familiar ache between her legs, and she forced herself to swallow back the bile in her throat. She pushed off of the door, smiling gratefully at the bed that she never had to share, where she could be safe and alone.

"Regina?"

Regina jumped, startled. No one had reason to be in her room at this hour, and the only people who ever called her by her first name were her husband, stepdaughter, and father.

And Tinkerbell, she realized, finding the blonde sitting at her vanity. "I've been waiting for hours. I almost thought I had the wrong room."

"You need to learn to take a hint," Regina snapped. The last thing she had energy for was the fairy. "I hear you've taken the job of Snow's drawing tutor."

Tink turned in the chair, watching the pained way Regina sat down on the edge of her bed. "I don't want to stay if you want me gone, but your husband didn't give me much of a choice."

"No, he's not big on consent," Regina told her bitterly. "But don't you need to get back to your tulip?"

Tink wanted badly to cross the room and sit beside Regina, but she forced herself to stay put. "I've been banished for stealing that dust," she admitted. "The Blue Fairy took my wings."

"And that's why you fell," Regina mused. She felt badly for her role in Tinkerbell's banishment, but not badly enough to deign to apologize. She just wanted the blonde to leave her be. "If there's no getting rid of you, I trust you'll keep our history to yourself. Or we'll both be killed for treason."

Tinkerbell looked a bit sad that Regina had offered no sympathy, but she stood to leave anyway, noting Regina's disheveled appearance and exhausted expression. "Neither of us wants that."

Although as Tink shut the door behind her and Regina sank down into her pillows, the queen couldn't help thinking that execution might be preferable to this life. She glanced at her balcony, the moonlight glinting off of the replacement railing, and wished she'd never met Tinkerbell at all.


	3. Always There

**A/N: My spring break is coming to an end, so updates will sadly slow down a bit. Thanks for reading! I really love writing this story.**

* * *

"Very good," Tinkerbell said without even looking at Snow's paper. She'd only been teaching the girl for a week, but she already detested her and this job. She had no interest in children or teaching, and she couldn't stand the girl's smile or the way she sang while she drew.

Snow White had trapped Regina here, and now she'd trapped Tinkerbell, and the former fairy hated her for it.

She had to admit that there were benefits to living in the castle. Tink had no idea what she might have done as far as food or shelter when left out on her own. And being there meant glimpses of Regina. The queen didn't talk to her, didn't even look at her, but Tink lived each day on the hope that their paths would cross, that she could just see Regina for a moment.

Tink shook thoughts of Regina from her head and forced herself to glance at Snow's still life. "Let's end our lesson for today," she told her student. "Your father would like me to begin painting your portrait."

Snow lit up at that, abandoning her easel. "Oh, but I don't know what to wear!" She ran from her sitting room, where Tink conducted all indoor lessons, into her bedroom and enormous closet. Tink lingered awkwardly in the sitting room until Snow came back to her empty-handed. "I must ask Regina. She'll know just the thing!"

Tink's heart both leapt and sank. The thought of seeing Regina – even just hearing her name, really – thrilled her, but she knew the queen wouldn't be happy about the disruption. "Princess," she started, but Snow was already racing towards the hall, and all Tink could do was follow her. "I really don't think we should disturb the Queen," she called after her, but she was used to flying, not running. The effort of keeping the princess in sight was exhausting.

Snow finally stopped, throwing open the doors to the library. Tink followed her in, trying to catch her breath, and glanced around the towering collection of books. She'd never seen so many in one place. But as always, her eyes drifted towards Regina.

The young queen was sitting on a window seat, writing in a journal that she snapped shut as soon as Snow called out her name. Tinkerbell stopped to brace herself against a bookcase, both the exertion and the way Regina looked there in the sunlight leaving her weak.

"Father wants Lady Tindra to paint my portrait," Snow explained, hopping up onto the window seat beside Regina. Tink wished she could be that bold. "I don't know what I should wear."

Regina's irritated gaze landed on Tinkerbell, since she couldn't get away with looking at Snow that way. "Why don't you choose some options, and I'll come to your room in a while and help you?" she asked stiffly.

Snow was off in a flurry again, but Tink remained, not able to muster the energy to race after her. "I'm sorry for disturbing you," she offered.

"I know it's Snow's doing, not yours," Regina said almost kindly, hugging her journal to her chest. "If _you_ wanted to see me, you'd just sneak into my room."

Tink blushed at that. "It won't happen again," she promised, and headed back to Snow's chambers.

* * *

Regina had to admit that she _wanted_ it to happen again. She wouldn't admit it aloud, of course, only to herself.

She'd liked when Tinkerbell had visited her all those nights as a fairy. She'd liked having something like a friend, and after having something like a friend it was hard to go back to being alone. To just penning her problems in the cold, silent pages of her journal, writing poems that no one would ever read. She wanted someone to talk to more than she'd ever thought possible. And now that Tinkerbell had been here a week without giving up any of her secrets, without letting anyone see that she was not, in fact, Lady Tindra, Regina was starting to think that perhaps she could trust her.

"Wait!" she called, hating herself for doing so immediately. Hating herself for being pathetic and lonely enough to need someone.

Tink stopped and turned and looked at her in that way of hers, a way that almost reminded Regina of the way Daniel used to look at her.

Clutching her journal, Regina made her way to Tink's side. "It might be all right if you visited again," she said in a low voice.

"Might it?" Tink smiled brightly. "Perhaps tonight."

It was nice having someone look at her like that, like she was worth something. Regina allowed herself to smile back. "Tell Snow I'll be there in a moment," she said, leaving for her own chambers to return her journal to its hiding place. When she glanced back over her shoulder halfway down the hall, Tink was still smiling.

* * *

Tinkerbell knew Regina wouldn't return to her chambers until late, but she was too eager to wait. She slipped into the room through the servants' entrance and once again sat herself at the queen's vanity. Before the mirror, she found herself inspecting her appearance and fixing her hair, desperate to impress.

Not that Regina had the least bit of interest in her. But perhaps they could be friends, and Tink would be happy with friends. At least she hoped she might.

Tink looked through all of the objects on Regina's vanity, touching the bottles of perfume reverently. Her eyes lit on the leather-bound book she so often saw Regina writing in, but that she didn't dare touch. Instead, she picked up another book, a novel the young queen was reading, and perused it without soaking in a single word.

She was listening so carefully that she heard the limping steps in the hall and the doorknob turning. She waited eagerly for Regina to appear, but her smile instantly faded once she did.

Regina looked even more ragged and miserable than she had the last night Tink waited for her. Her hair was a mess, her makeup smudged, and there was pain both in her expression and in the way she carried herself. She didn't look like a queen tonight, just a girl.

"Oh," she said softly when she saw Tinkerbell. "It's you."

"It's me." Tinkerbell hurried forward to take Regina's arm and help her to the bed. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Regina replied curtly. She reached for the clean nightgown laid out on her bed, and allowed Tink to help ease her out of her robe. The former fairy gasped when she saw blood staining the white silk Regina was wearing underneath.

"You're not fine. You're hurt." Tink touched the spot on Regina's side where the stain was worst, and the brunette winced.

What she wouldn't give to have magic again, to be able to help in some way.

"Let's clean you up, at least," she said, heading for the queen's bathroom, but Regina stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"There's no water," she explained. "I'm not allowed to wash after sex. It'll hurt my chances of conceiving." It was clear from the flat tone of Regina's voice that she had little hope of ever being successful.

Tinkerbell just gaped at her for a second. Sex was just one of many of the odd human things that fairies never experienced, but from what she'd heard of it she didn't expect it to be so brutal. "_That__'s_ sex?"

"Leopold leaves in the morning. He likes to leave his mark before he goes."

"I'm going to get you water," Tink told her. "I don't care what's allowed."

At that, finally, Regina really looked at the former fairy. "Thank you," she said softly, almost a whisper. "You're very kind."

* * *

While she waited, Regina raised a hand and healed the cut on her side. Not completely, just enough to stop the bleeding. She could save herself so much pain if she could only heal everything, but doing so might lead to her husband discovering her secret. She was no longer seeing Rumplestiltskin, but she'd learned enough already to be able to care for herself in small ways.

But Leopold expected to see her the way he left her, and she would only raise suspicion if her injuries entirely disappeared.

She finished stiffly changing into her clean nightgown by the time Tinkerbell returned with a basin of water and a cloth. The fairy wetted the cloth and moved to clean the trickle of blood that had run down Regina's leg, but the queen reached out to take over the job. She followed the blood up to and under her nightgown, washing away all of the remnants of Leopold and the pain he caused her.

Tinkerbell flitted about with nothing to do, looking very much the fairy, before finding Regina's hairbrush and climbing onto the bed behind the brunette. Regina paused in her cleaning after a few careful, gentle strokes, closing her eyes.

"When I was little," she said, "my nanny used to brush my hair after my mother punished me. It always made me feel better."

Tink kept up the motion. "Did it work?"

"Always. It reminded me that there was someone, at least, who loved me." Regina set down the wet cloth and hugged her arms around her stomach. "My mother was cruel and my father was always busy but there was one person who would always be there." At least until Cora killed the woman when Regina was eight, but the queen didn't mention that part. It was so easy to pretend that it was Nanny sitting behind her, taking such great care with each stroke of the brush.

"I could be that for you," Tink offered, her voice filled with hope. "Always there."

"I don't need anyone," Regina said automatically, used to her walls and safe distances.

Tink didn't answer for a long time, eventually setting the brush down and braiding Regina's hair. The queen went back to washing, finding the silence and the blonde's presence surprisingly comfortable. She felt the loss when the weight shifted on the bed and Tink got off.

"Are you feeling any better?" Tinkerbell asked as she gathered the cloth and the basin of pink water.

"Yes, thank you." Regina absentmindedly ran a hand over her braid. "And tomorrow night I can go to sleep in peace."

Tink shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Should I come tomorrow night?"

"I…" Regina paused, unsure. She didn't mind Tinkerbell's company, but letting the fairy in deeper felt risky. Especially when she looked at her like she was now, as if her whole world contained only Regina.

"You're allowed to need someone, you know," Tinkerbell said. "You don't have to be alone."

Regina thought, for a moment, of how these nights usually ended. Without Tinkerbell, she'd be sticky and sweaty and, in all likelihood, crying from the pain and humiliation of the things her husband made her do. But tonight she was calm, and even though the constant empty ache in her heart never disappeared these days, she'd been able to forget it was there for a minute or two.

"Tomorrow night," Regina confirmed. And when she closed her eyes to sleep, she was surprised to note that she was still smiling.


	4. Battle Scars

**A/N: More suicidal Regina in this chapter.**

**I don't usually do the whole suggesting music to go with the story sort of thing, but if you're so inclined, "Stay" by Rihanna and "Everytime" by Britney are good choices.**

* * *

Tinkerbell had been happy to learn that she was considered non-essential to Snow White's education. A few of her tutors traveled with the girl to provide lessons wherever they went, but the majority were left behind.

Tink spent the morning attempting to work on what she could of the princess's portrait without the girl in front of her. She studied the room, the wall that would serve as the backdrop, the chair Snow posed in. It was tiresome work, so after lunch she wandered, paying visits to the garden, the library, anywhere else Regina might be.

But Regina was nowhere to be found, and her usual seat at the dais was empty during dinner. Tink sat with the other tutors, listening to them complain about the raucous courtiers at the other end of the room.

"I thought the Queen stayed behind," she mused after wondering about Regina's absence for a while.

"She doesn't mix with the rabble," the music tutor, Alaric, explained to the laughs of the others. "Her Oh-So-Very-Highness doesn't leave her room unless there's royalty in the castle."

Tinkerbell cast her eyes back down to her food, suddenly wishing she hadn't asked.

"Besides, she's very busy," added Irina, the etiquette tutor. "Between devouring the souls of children and entertaining her gentleman callers, she can't manage to make dinner."

At that, the riding tutor leaned across the table and whispered conspiratorially. "From what I hear, her callers are gentle_women_," he told them, and Tink looked up at him, startled. "When the King was last away, some of the stable boys saw her heading towards the village with some girl. Clearly a prostitute, based on her costume."

"Unnatural, but at least it explains why she's so cold to her husband," Alaric said, raising his glass. "To the Ice Queen of the White Kingdom, may she melt in hell."

Tink pushed aside her worries about having been seen with Regina weeks before. "But she's your queen. How can you say that about her?"

"Queen Eva was a real ruler, bless her soul," Irina said, raising her glass towards the portrait of the late queen that hung over the hall. "She deserved better than to be succeeded by a common tramp. Eva loved her husband, her daughter, and her people, but Regina only loves herself."

Tink knew better, that Regina didn't love herself much, if at all. "She seems sad to me."

"Just don't let her get her claws into you," Irina cautioned. "As I said, she devours the souls of children."

The former fairy took a swig of her drink. "I'm no child. I'll take my chances."

* * *

As always, her so-called family's departure left Regina feeling conflicted. She was happy, of course, to have a few days out of Leopold's grasp, a few days when she didn't have to fake pleasantries with Snow.

She didn't want to go with them, but the fact that she'd never once been asked to join them hurt anyway. Just another reminder that she was worthless. And that she was trapped. What she wouldn't give for the chance to pay a visit to another kingdom, to ride freely.

Without her husband, Regina was confined to the castle and, more often than not, confined to her room. She'd tried during the first few months of her marriage to interact with the courtiers, but when not under the watchful eye of their king the women were cruel and the men were rough. They resented her, this nobody who had swept in and become queen. They hated that Leopold had overlooked them, or their sisters or daughters.

They called her the king's whore, and today Regina was inclined to believe them. After seeing her husband and stepdaughter off, she had returned to bed. She was still there now, still sore from the previous night and utterly abandoned. Utterly alone.

The sun was setting beyond the window, and Regina reluctantly dragged herself from bed and called for the servants to draw a bath. That was one luxury she wouldn't pass up. She'd ignored meals and everything else the servants offered, but she was willing to leave the sad comfort of her bed for the chance to wash away the previous night.

The young queen stood in front of the bathroom mirror as servants came and went with their buckets of hot water. As always, she could hear her mother's voice echoing in her head when she looked at herself. _You look tired, Regina. And pale, and I don__'t know why you never do anything with your hair. Honestly, how do you expect to hold down a husband when you look such a mess?_ And then, when she undressed, _you__'re far too skinny, Regina. It makes you look like a peasant. Like you__'re starving. You certainly don__'t look like someone who is likely to produce strong heirs._

Her mother would not have commented on the partially healed cut from the night before, or the finger-shaped bruises on her hips.

Regina turned away from herself and sank into her bath, grateful for the way the hot water soothed and comforted.

She closed her eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then slipped beneath the surface.

* * *

Tinkerbell made certain not to be seen when she went to Regina's room that night. The queen's detractors certainly didn't need any more ammunition. Although it eased her mind to know that there were so many rumors that no one would pay attention to just one more.

She let herself in, not finding Regina in the usual places. But the bathroom was well-lit, and when Tink peered in she saw Regina's dark hair over the lip of the tub. She kept her distance, wanting to give the queen some privacy, but was paying such close attention to Regina that she instantly noticed the moment that dark hair vanished.

Tink waited, eager to see Regina again, but the brunette never came up. After what seemed like an unnaturally long time, Tink put propriety aside and rushed over to the tub to see Regina submerged. She reached in, water sloshing all over as she yanked Regina up roughly. The queen's eyes snapped open as the movement jerked her to attention, and she slapped Tink's hands away as she coughed.

"You always have such perfect timing, don't you?" Regina snapped as soon as she'd filled her lungs again.

Tink shrank back at her anger, shocked to realize that this was on purpose. Regina had denied that she'd deliberately jumped from her balcony the night they met, but now the blonde knew she'd been lying. Regina had tried to die again tonight. "Maybe that's because I'm meant to save you."

"Need I remind you that you lost your wings?" Regina stood and grabbed a towel. "I'm no longer your concern."

For one glorious, guilty moment, Tink saw the entirety of Regina's bare body. And then it was wrapped in that towel, and she looked back up into the brunette's tired eyes. "I care about you," she said. "That's why you're my concern."

Something softened in Regina's eyes as she stepped from the tub, although she fought it back down. "Nobody cares about me."

Before Regina could brush past her, Tink stopped her with a hand on each shoulder. "I lost my wings _for you_. I gave up everything _for you_. So yes, Regina, someone does care about you."

Regina shook her head. "Why don't you hate me like you should?"

Tink had asked herself that question many times, and there was no answer. She just didn't. She just couldn't. Her love for Regina was so much more than she could understand. Instead of answering, she wrapped her arms around the brunette, not caring that she was getting her already wet dress even more soaked. After a moment, she hugged Tinkerbell back.

"I'm going to finish what I started," Tink promised. "I'm going to help you."

At that, Regina pulled back and stalked into her bedroom. "By finding me a boyfriend? Not interested."

Tink followed, surprised when Regina took two nightgowns from her closet and handed one to her. "I was wrong to think the answer to your problem was belonging to another man," she admitted. "You were right. I am a terrible fairy. But maybe as a human I can help you find some sort of happiness."

Tink was shocked to see Regina's lips twitch into a smile. "You're a terrible fairy, but you're a good person."

Regina turned her back to change into her nightgown, and Tink did the same as she peeled off her wet clothes. Before she could put the borrowed nightgown on, however, Regina gasped, and Tink held the garment to her chest as she turned to see what was wrong.

The young queen was staring at _her_, horrified. "Is that…" She touched a hand to Tink's back, between her shoulder blades, between the two scars that marked the places where her wings had been. Tink winced, her skin still tender even though she'd had more than a week to heal. "Is that what I did to you?"

"What the Blue Fairy did to me, technically."

"Hold still." Regina brushed her fingers over one of the scars, murmuring a healing spell, but nothing changed.

"They can't be healed," Tink explained. "They're punishment, to remind me of what I did for the rest of my mortal life."

Regina pulled back and Tink slipped on the soft nightgown. "I'm so sorry," she said once Tink turned to face her. "Is there anything at all I can do?"

Tink took Regina's hands in hers and squeezed them. "Live. Fight for the happiness you deserve."

"What about your happiness?" Regina surprised Tink by squeezing back. "Now you're trapped here, catering to a spoiled princess. This can't be what you want."

"Your happiness is my happiness," Tink said, blushing at the words that went unsaid. _You are my happiness_.

And then Regina shocked Tink even more by embracing her. "Stay tonight."


	5. Just for Us

Regina had never known a morning like this.

Every morning of her whole life, she'd found herself alone. But today, there was a warm body pressed against her side, an arm across her, blonde curls glittering in the sunlight from the window.

She reveled in it for a minute, closing her eyes again, before reality set in. She gingerly moved Tinkerbell's arm from around her and got out of bed slowly so not to wake her. Even though she really needed to wake her and get her out of there.

But the former fairy was smiling in her sleep, and Regina stood by the side of the bed for a moment and just watched her, a similar smile gracing her own face. So this was what it was like to have a true friend. Regina had ruined Tinkerbell's life, and yet here she was. And while her presence in the castle might not have been by choice, her presence in Regina's bed certainly was.

If Tink was going to help her find happiness, Regina decided, she was going to do the same for the blonde. Freedom was beyond her ability to grant, but she could give Tinkerbell everything else. Wealth, influence, a husband…

Everything she herself had and hated, Regina realized.

No, she would do what Tink had asked the night before. She would live. She would try to be happy. As she stood there, watching the fairy's doll-like features react to whatever wonderful dream she was having, Regina felt almost happy.

But happiness never lasted, and when Regina looked up from Tink's sleeping form, she locked eyes with a servant. She was the one who'd seen Regina on the night of Tink's arrival, a young, diminutive redhead who immediately dropped into a curtsey.

Regina stormed around the bed to face her. "You! What's your name?"

"Anya, Your Majesty," the girl said softly. "I'm terribly sorry for disturbing you."

"Anya," Regina repeated. "If word of what you saw this morning gets out, I will destroy you."

The girl seemed meek, but Regina was surprised to see that she did not seem shaken by this threat. "I would never speak against my queen's wishes," she said simply. "I am your loyal subject."

"If that's true, you're the only one," Regina said with a roll of her eyes. But something about this girl seemed alarmingly sincere.

"I know how rumors can distort the truth all too well." Anya lowered her eyes. "In my home village, I was disgraced due to vicious rumors about me."

Regina knew better than to trust this girl, but maybe Tinkerbell had softened her up. "If you prove to be as loyal as you say, there may be a place for you among my personal servants." As much as Regina was disliked, serving any member of the royal family was considered an honor among the servants, a step up from the sorts of menial tasks she assumed Anya was doing now. "Fetch my breakfast, and once my guest awakes you will escort her discreetly to her chambers."

Anya dipped into another curtsey, and while the gesture was formal, she glanced up at Regina with a smile. Regina watched her leave, torn between worry and a kind of fondness for the servant. But she shrugged both off and returned to her place in bed.

* * *

Tinkerbell was almost certain she was dreaming when she woke. She wasn't in her own room with its dark, drab furniture. The canopy above was a creamy white, as were the sheets. It couldn't be, it made no sense.

Regina was sitting next to her, journal resting on her knees, writing something. She looked in Tink's direction as the blonde sat up and almost smiled. But she quickly put her book aside, obviously not wanting it to be read.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," Tink said, gesturing towards the journal, but Regina made no mood to take it up again. Instead, the young queen took a cup of tea from the breakfast tray resting at the end of the bed and sipped it delicately.

Tink took an apple, in the distinctive red of Regina's prized tree, earning a genuine smile this time. "You're not disturbing me," Regina said. "I asked you to stay."

"Just because you enjoy my company when I'm unconscious doesn't mean that you still want me around when I'm awake." Tink bit into the fruit, immediately understanding just why Regina was so proud of her tree. Delicious.

The smile was lasting longer than any Tink had ever seen from the queen. "You're much less tiresome than most of the people here."

"Well, if that isn't almost a compliment." Tink noticed an unexpected hint of pink rising on Regina's face. These human bodies were so strange and inconvenient, the way they revealed secrets. The former fairy's heart was pounding as it so often did in Regina's presence, and she was certain that she was just as pink, if not more.

But without the vulnerability of being human, Regina would be entirely closed off from view.

"What do you plan to do today?" the blonde asked. She badly wanted to ask Regina to sit for her. While the king and princess were away, Tink was tempted to paint Regina instead, to create an image that could be given a place of honor with Eva and Snow.

"I'm going to the stables," Regina said as she finished her tea. She studied Tink silently for a moment. "I suppose you could come along."

* * *

It was a beautiful day, and Regina forgot herself for a minute and enjoyed it. Just like old times, with the sun on her face and a pasture so wide that she almost couldn't see the fence keeping her in. She took another sugar cube from her pocket and offered it to Rocinante, smiling at the warm, wet tickle of his lips.

"I'm sorry I haven't been visiting," she said, keeping close to the horse that had once been her only friend. "You know how it gets."

But Rocinante didn't know. He nudged Regina's shoulder hard, as if to ask why she kept her feet on the ground. Why she wasn't the girl he'd always known. Regina wished there was some way she could explain everything that had changed. Daniel vanishing, the move to the big, busy royal stable, their rides together getting scarcer and scarcer until Regina stopped riding at all.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I should have sold you to someone who could make you happy." Rocinante nudged the side of her face that time, and Regina reached up to stroke his neck. "I know, I know."

"That's a big animal." The voice came from behind her, but Regina knew well that there was only one person who would come looking for her. And the distinctive accent cleared up any remaining mystery.

"Aren't fairies supposed to be friends to the animals?" Regina asked, turning to see Tinkerbell coming through the grass, arms full.

"Terrible fairy, remember?" Tink set down her things, spreading out a blanket to sit on. She had her sketchbook, too, and a basket that Regina assumed held lunch or something of the sort.

"Well, Rocinante may be big, but he's terribly sweet." Before Tink could sit, Regina motioned for her to come closer. "Rocinante, this is Tinkerbell."

But Tink just stared at Regina without looking towards the horse. "I haven't heard anyone say my real name since I've been here."

"I suppose not." Regina arched an eyebrow. "Tindra? How did you come up with that?"

"I didn't have much time. And I quite possibly had a concussion." She shrugged. "You don't like it?"

"It doesn't suit you as well." Regina slipped Rocinante another sugar cube, and Tink wrinkled her nose in disgust as the horse ate from the queen's palm. "Besides, it's what Snow and Leopold call you. I like how your real name is just for us."

Tink's look and smile were suddenly so much more intense, and Regina turned towards Rocinante. She shouldn't have said that. Shouldn't have given Tinkerbell hope, because whatever the former fairy wanted, it was surely something Regina couldn't give. She had nothing of her own.

Tink broke the silence before it could grow uncomfortable. "Are you going to ride?"

Rocinante huffed as if he understood and wanted to ask the same question. Regina just cringed. "I can't ride anymore," she said, not meeting the eyes of either horse or fairy. "I'm not allowed."

"He really has taken everything from you," Tinkerbell mused, and Regina turned to face her with teary eyes. No one had ever said that to her before. No one had cared enough to realize just how much she'd lost.

Regina took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Tink's waist. The blonde's arms closed around her, one hand on her back and the other in Regina's hair. She gently eased Regina's head down to her shoulder.

After a moment, Rocinante wandered a short way off to graze and give them space.


End file.
